Capital punishment?

Question

I feel very sad and angry, every time I hear of an innocent person being murdered for no reason. Old men off ninety, children, women..etc. I definitely think they should re-introduce Capital punishment in the UK. It would also bring down the prison population, as prisons are bursting at the seams....

Answer 1

Yeah but what are you gonna do about it? I read a story the other day about a case in Germany or France where some guy cold blooded murdered a family of four. Out and out slaughter mind you.. And the prosecutor trumpeted a "victory" of justice in sentencing him to 15 years. 15 friggin years. As in there will eventually be a 40 year old psycho walking around Europe who kills people for the fun of it. Why bother trying to rehabilitate people like this? I simply want them gone forever.

Answer 2

The problem with capital punishment is that you have to be 100% sure the person did commit the crime. In Florida in the USA, (George Bush's brother is the Governor), they have stopped executing people as they have made serious errors and found that a lot of the people they executed were in fact innocent. The problem is once you kill someone you can't bring them back. At least if they get life imprisonment you can let them out if they find their innocent. DNA has been so useful in freeing innocent people. I certainly would not like to be the person who has committed someone to execution and found out later they were innocent. If the prison system were used correctly there would be no problem. I think life in prison should mean just that, never to be released. Capital punishment would not bring down the prison population as people have the right of appeal especially if it is a case where the person is going to be executed. Some people have been on death row in the USA for many years. One guy was there for over twenty five years awaiting execution and they found through DNA he was totally innocent of the crime and released him, but how do you give him his time back again, you can't. I am totally against capital punsihment as I think it is cruel and unusual punishment. You only have to go on the website, (execution, lethal injection), and see how many they have botched up with lethal injection and electrocution. Anyway that's just my opinion.

Answer 3

no, there definitely should not be capital punishment. It does not work, and e.g in the US it is actually more expensive to condemn somebody for capital punishment than keep them in prison for life. There is always the risk in putting somebody innocent to death, there are enough examples of people being exonerated after years of prison, so if you want to try to minimize that possibility (I don't think you can exclude it) you need really lengthy trials and rock solid evidence. You will have that in only a few cases, so the prison population would not significantly reduced. Most of the prison inmates are anyway not in there for capital offenses. My guess is that if you really want to reduce the prison population all you would have to do is to make drugs legal... I am sure there are more drug offenders in prison than murderers.
Last not least having capital punishment is not a sign of a very civilized society. Using capital punishment means we can't really think of a solution to a problem. It is an admission of failure of that society. It also completely eliminates the possibility of a person ever redeeming themselves. In addition, I do not think it is a greater punishment to be put to death than live ones life out in prison.

Answer 4

I cannot agree. It doesn't stop murders at all. One just has to look at crime statistics in every country that has Capital Punishment as law. It's sad but true that there is a madman born every year. Murderers are not so much criminals, but mentally affected people. I for one would prefer to see more research into medical treatment than can be used to control their urges.

That said, I haven't had a loved one killed for no reason, so I understand the feelings of the pro Capital Punishment Lobby, but there is no way that I can agree.

Answer 5

Until detection and conviction rates increase, there is limited deterrent, whatever the punishment.

I don't agree with capital punishment, I just believe it pushes the state to the degrading level that murderers etc. are at, which is unacceptable.

Also, this is posted in the wrong category, this is for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered related subject matter - we're not discussing capital punishment for murders against this group of people. Please choose an appropriate category in future.

Good luck! Rob

Answer 6

Ive read the rest of the answers and feel I must point out one more thing. Some of the more infamous killers jailed for life really WANT to die eg , Ian Brady, The moors murderer Huntley who killed those little girls are on hunger strike and must be force fed because those basxards took away all choice from their victims and should be kept alive and made to suffer. death would be too quick and easy, thats why they want it.

Answer 7

I agree with you. In some cases, I would prefer the capital punishment. Don't forget that while they are living in prisons, government feeds them for free!

Answer 8

capital punishment dose reduce te murder rates in the areas because the ppl who are thinking of commiting a murder kno what might happen. Also most of the time no inocent ppl get the punishment. there my be abour 20 or so ppl who might have been inoccent but that has never been proven. SO i agree with u, capital punishment should be re-introdiced in the UK. I'm for the death penelty but not in all cases.

Answer 9

I agree. They also should not be on death row for 20 years and get 30 appeals in the US. They should have 1 year and then lights out. That would save us some money and make some criminals think again.

Answer 10

It would be a good idea in some cases, but rotting in jail gives the offender times to feel sorry for what they have done.